A Song of Redemption
by lilwhodat
Summary: You don't always get to choose the one you love. Sometimes it just hits you like a ton of bricks, or sometimes you meet them at an unlikely place. Sometimes you're obligated by duty and commitments and sometimes you're forbidden by vows. You don't get to choose. You don't realize until you're staring right in their eyes, into your future. R L J, JS Y


You don't always get to choose who you love. Lyanna Stark found that out the hard way on her fifteenth year when she first encountered the Prince of Westeros Rhaegar Targaryen. He was handsome, young, and completely off limits. Married to a Dornish princess for political gains, Lyanna knew it was still wrong to want and lust after someone, even if they were in an arranged marriage.

Regardless of all that, somehow, love still found a way to intervene. Lyanna met Rhaegar the first day of the Tourney at Harrenhal. She had been exploring with her younger brother Benjen and she hadn't expected to meet the crown prince himself. She had been drawn to him since the beginning. In the beginning she had wondered if it was mutual, but by the end she had no doubt. Rhaegar had long silver hair and the famous Targaryen purple eyes. He was tall and well-built, but unlike other high born or knights he was well-read and enjoyed the simpler things in life.

When he had sang at the dinner, she had cried. At the time she had been furious with herself and emptied a glass of her drink on her younger brother's head for noticing it, but now looking back, she wouldn't have wanted it any other way. By the end of the weeklong tournament, she and Rhaegar had become close. When he won the entire tournament and had a crown of Winter Roses made and laid them on her lap, she knew they had begun something that would change their life forever.

That last night in Harrenhal, they consummated their love for one another. Rhaegar gave her no doubts about his affections, intentions, and love of her. She, in return, admitted to him that her heart was his, forever. Despite him being married and her engaged to her brother's best friend, none of that mattered that night under the stars. After the tournament they went their separate ways, he back to King's Landing and she to return to the North to marry the Baratheon.

As history has told, her wedding never took place, and Rhaegar didn't stay in King's Landing for long. Many moons after the tournament, Rhaegar went north, in disguise with Arthur Dayne, his Kingsguard. They crept into Winterfell and she met them at the Godswood. From there, they rode south, boarded a privately chartered ship, and sailed to Dorne. The irony of it all, looking back now, is Dorne was the home of Elia Martell, Rhaegar's wife, and mother of his children. The other joke the gods must've found amusing was the Toy of Joy, located in the Dornish desert, was the last place Lyanna found joy.

After arriving in Dorne, Ned and Robert rallied their banner men and rode south for King's Landing, demanding for Lyanna and beginning a war. Thousands lost their lives because Lyanna was selfish and indulged in a forbidden affair that cost the Seven Kingdoms greatly. She never regretted it though.

Lying on her deathbed in childbirth, she never regretted a single decision. She figured dying in childbirth was retribution for her sins. She had heard earlier that Elia Martell and her children were slain, Rhaegar was at the Trident fighting her brother and former betrothed, and the Mad King Aerys was dead. And now, in the waves of pain and childbirth, she could feel all the weight and burdens of her choices and decision weighing upon her. By the end of the pain, she had a healthy baby boy, with brown eyes and dark hair matching hers. She knew Rhaegar would be pleased. He had made his opinion known that should they have a child, he wanted it to look like her. She, however, wouldn't have minded a silver haired, purple eyed, Targaryen child, but a Northerner baby was what she had, as wolf's-blood ran in the baby's veins.

Ned arrived just in time to say his goodbye. He was bloodied and weak, but his only focus was on her. As she lay in her own blood, clutching a blue Winter Rose that Rhaegar had given her, she knew she would die at peace.

"Promise me, Ned," she said in a weak voice, not wanting to leave the world without her brother's word. "Promise me."

"I promise," he said sadly.

His words put her at ease and with that she let go of all the weight and burdens she had been carrying since as long as she could remember. She released her last breath on her, hoping that Rhaegar at least survived somewhere to meet his son. Unknowingly, both lovers died, hours apart, separated by war, but forever connected by the power of love.

No, you don't always get to choose who you love. Lyanna found that out the hard way, as did Rhaegar, and now Jon. Nearly two decades later, fully-grown and a member of the Night's Watch, he suddenly found himself over the Wall and in the camp of hundreds of Wildlings, especially one with flaming red hair.

Unknowingly, Jon followed in his parents' footsteps, falling in love with someone who he could never truly be with. He had sworn an oath to the Night's Watch, was charged with an important mission of infiltrating their camp, and becoming a part of them just to tear them down later. He hadn't embarked to find love. He had truly believed he would go his entire life without ever feeling the touch of a woman, smelling her hair, or kissing her lips. That all changed when he met Ygritte, the spearwoman who was as wild and unpredictable as her people and the land beyond the Wall.

He had been ordered to kill her then catch up with his brothers, but he couldn't do it. He went soft on her. Not only because she was a woman, but because she was young, beautiful, and spirited. She reminded him of Arya, his half-sister who had always treated him well and like an equal. He couldn't kill her. So he took her his prisoner and tried to rejoin the other _crows_ , as she called them.

But she was smart. Smarter than he had initially thought or credited her with. He had no doubt Wildings were people, but he had never met one before to judge their intelligence. She had outsmarted him and at times manipulated him. He had no doubt she was doing it all on purpose, either to get free of him or because she enjoyed torturing his damn soul. Either way, he had somehow found himself in the Wildling camp with the leader of the Wildings and trying to convince him to not start a war that he was going to lose.

Of course Mance Rayder didn't listen and he marched with the Wildings as they headed south. Not before stopping for a night and Ygritte running off with his sword. He had followed her, as she had known he would. She led him into her trap. A cave, she must've scouted it earlier. She had stripped, despite him telling her not to. She had, she had called his bluff, challenged his loyalties, and made him doubt his own mission.

In the end, he did break his vow. He consummated his love of her, proved to her he did know a few things, and without words told her he loved her, despite not voicing them aloud. Everything was wonderful, beautiful, better then in his wildest dreams. But like all dreams, it came to an end. A tragic end.

She figured it out. He betrayed her. She knew deep down all along, he was convinced, but she never said anything. Never let him give into his deepest wallows of self-pity and loathing. To her, him being a bastard meant nothing. He was awed and inspired at the way she didn't care about titles or wealth or power. She only cared about finding a better future for herself. He was awed at her persistence, her bravery, her archery skills, her undying love of him and faith that he would never betray her.

But he did. He betrayed her and she shot him three times for it. He knew he deserved it. He deserved a lot worse for hurting her. He wished he could shoot himself in the heart, end all his suffering and misery, but he couldn't. He was still a member of the Night's Watch and he still had a job to do. He put duty above love, unknowingly doing the opposite of his parents.

Looking down upon him from the heavens, Jon had no idea that his parents were watching, heartbroken over his choice, but accepting it and happy in the knowledge that he was a moral man who kept his word. Ygritte was less understanding, obviously, and Jon couldn't blame her.

At their final meeting, as he held her in his arms as she slowly was dying, the arrow pierced in her chest, he knew he loved her, would always love her, and never would love again.

"You know nothing, Jon Snow," were her final words. He cried. Not in front of his brothers, not when he burned her body beyond the wall. But at night, when he was alone and he couldn't sleep, not even with Ghost at his feet.

He cried, remembering her, her fierceness, her spiritedness, her beauty. She was amazing, he was the luckiest man in Westeros for having met her and loved her and earning her love in return. He knew he would never love again. He couldn't. She was everything to him. Everything, and he gave it up.

Unbeknownst to him, three people now looked down upon him. Three people who loved him more than the stars in the heaven. Three people now looked down upon him, hoping he'd do the right thing, that people would see the good in him, that he would save Westeros and everyone from the Night King. He was the son that was promised. As Ygritte watched below, her eyes watering at the sight of her beloved Jon Snow getting stabbed then reawakened, she knew it wasn't his time yet to join her. He would, eventually, make his way back to her. To them. But for now, he was needed in Westeros, where he had a prophecy to fulfil and people to save. He had to fight for Winterfell, for Westeros, for everyone because he was the prince who was promised. He is the song of ice and fire. But the song of ice and fire is a sad song. It mourns the loss of love, life, and the what _could_ have been. It's not a song about happy endings or fairytales. It's a song about life, choices, duty, honor, and love. The Song of Ice and Fire is a song for the brokenhearted. It's a song of redemption.


End file.
